Themis Bar Review Hangout - July 2015 Exam Forum

[sd5289]

Are the full practice MPTs not graded? I have been putting it off because I didn't want to sit for 90 minutes to do that stupid thing, but I'm looking at the assignment... and it doesn't say it's graded.

The first few are not, but after doing the first one last week (and have one this week), I'm actually kinda glad we're doing them. The first one I did wasn't substantively hard, but it was definitely a time crunch, and I almost never get into a time crunch on stuff, so I'm glad we're practicing it. It's worth 10% in my jurisdiction, which I see as an easy 10% to get so long as you don't run out of time.

There is a graded MPT in a few weeks though.

[sd5289]

Um, why is the Evidence guy giving us his entire bio (just started)?

[habz]

I feel like Murphy is making crim pro and NY evidence way more complicated than they should be. Why does she have to read from a script?

[texlaw]

Yesterday I wrote a 30-minute essay, which put me at 0.7% on the day. Then I wrote a second 30-minute essay, which brought me up to 0.9%(???) Then I completed 3 hours of lectures, which bumped me up another 0.2%. I think I've just about given up on that progress bar.

[texlaw]

Um, why is the Evidence guy giving us his entire bio (just started)?

It's just going to get worse. I think I learned more about the federal rules of evidence from our state distinctions lecturer.

[InternationalShoe]

This evidence guy . . .

He gets worse as it goes. He starts off manic and becomes deranged.

Seriously . . . he should have really kept his day job as one of the judges from Pitch Perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isnabpAf30g

[Raiden]

The only thing worse than doing a 3-hour CA practice PT is doing the full 3 hours and getting nowhere close to being done. I realized that I can't outline as much as I usually like to on my personal memos. If you're a perfectionist, you'll have to learn to give up a lot to cram everything in there in time.

Also, watch out for the red herrings. There can be a lot of them and getting trapped by even one of them can screw up your ability to finish in time. (My 2 cents).

Yeah I actually didn't finish either, and I am wondering whether I should give myself extra time and just keep writing, or throw in the towel, check the model answers, and just start moving forward to regular MBE bar prep I have scheduled.

[hindijs1]

I actually think the evidence guy was pretty thorough. I can see the challenges with the topic in general if you didn't take it in law school. Interesting that after 40 practice questions I'm at 82% correct with evidence considering it's one of the harder topics and I did subpar with con law initially when it supposed to be an easier topic.

Bottom line guys and gals, we are almost there. Don't let these littler things get to you. WE WILL SUCCEED. LOOK HOW FAR YOU HAVE COME. Hold your heads up!

[zot1]

To add to the many things wrong with the progress bar, mine is currently malfunctioning: it says I've completed 1% for the day already even though I'm still working through my first task out of six.

[MrBriggs360]

I am so god damned pissed off. This second set of Property questions literally is about 80% mortgages questions. WTF is this shit?

[milesdavisjd]

In IL here - Question about the Criminal Law outlines. Which one are we supposed to be using? There is an outline in the MBE Book, but there's also an outline in the IL Vol. 2 Multistate that looks almost identical (except it's about 6 pages longer than the MBE one)? I'm using the outline in the IL book, but what did other people do? Or am I overcomplicating things?

[Velours]

In IL here - Question about the Criminal Law outlines. Which one are we supposed to be using? There is an outline in the MBE Book, but there's also an outline in the IL Vol. 2 Multistate that looks almost identical (except it's about 6 pages longer than the MBE one)? I'm using the outline in the IL book, but what did other people do? Or am I overcomplicating things?

I'm in Texas but I've noticed a similar thing. The one in the MBE Book is the common law/federal rules. The State book will have the MBE outline with light gray boxes that show your state distinctions. The directed study will tell you just general Criminal Law or to do the state criminal law, which will likely come right after you finish some practice questions.

You could just read the state one if you make note of which things are state distinctions and keep them separate in your head. I've been reading the MBE outlines and then just reading the state distinctions/refreshing those sections when I get to the state topic.

[Mad Hatter]

I love how McElroy insists that every topic "is a great place to rack up points."

[Pleasye]

I love how McElroy insists that every topic "is a great place to rack up points."

EVERY one except property lol. Her stupid tips always make me get questions wrong though.

(best evidence rule is pretty much never the right answer)
(4 questions in a set have best evidence rule as a correct answer)

[Tripl3Espresso]

I love how McElroy insists that every topic "is a great place to rack up points."

EVERY one except property lol. Her stupid tips always make me get questions wrong though.

(best evidence rule is pretty much never the right answer)
(4 questions in a set have best evidence rule as a correct answer)

I was thinking the same exact thing. Her tips never, if ever then very rarely lead me to the correct response. The best evidence one in particular got me too. The tips in the actual MBE lectures are more helpful.

[Worker and Parasite]

I am so god damned pissed off. This second set of Property questions literally is about 80% mortgages questions. WTF is this shit?

I hated this but it eventually clicked after 20-30 questions

[zot1]

So much hearsay.

[zot1]

I am so god damned pissed off. This second set of Property questions literally is about 80% mortgages questions. WTF is this shit?

I hated this but it eventually clicked after 20-30 questions

This is true for me as well. I was so burned out after a set with mostly mortgages questions that I had to take an extended break during the day which I usually do not do. However, later sets with mortgage questions did not bother me at all--I actually got sort of good at them.

Hang in there!

[sd5289]

I love how McElroy insists that every topic "is a great place to rack up points."

OMG, this.

And then she acted like Crim was difficult and bam, 85% right on the 1st set whereas my first Con Law set (which was supposed to "easy") was 48%.

ETA: on the Evidence lecturer and him being thorough, I do agree. I've been going through the long outlines AFTER doing the lectures to fill in all the gaps that the lecturers leave, and at least for the first 7 chapters of Evidence, I didn't have to do that nearly as much. We'll see what happens on the PQ's though.

[henry flower]

WHY ISN'T THE MARYLAND EVIDENCE OUTLINE IN THE "DISTINCTIONS" FORMAT!?!!?! ARGGGHHHH ALMOST EVERYTHING IS THE SAME AS MBE/FRE I DON'T NEED TO READ THIS WHOLE DAMNED THING AND THE DISTINCTIONS LECTURER IS UTTERLY USELESS ARGGHHHHHH

Sorry folks just needed to vent.

[hindijs1]

I took a real estate transactions course and the class was 50% mortgages so in doing fine on the MBE questions, however, I agree that out lecture was insufficient to answer the questions given. On the bright side, don't be discouraged. Mortgages may seem daunting but the questions pertaining to them are not that hard once you get the hang of the roughly 5-6 rules you need to know about them. If anyone needs clarification on anything let me know.

[milesdavisjd]

I am so god damned pissed off. This second set of Property questions literally is about 80% mortgages questions. WTF is this shit?

I hated this but it eventually clicked after 20-30 questions

This is true for me as well. I was so burned out after a set with mostly mortgages questions that I had to take an extended break during the day which I usually do not do. However, later sets with mortgage questions did not bother me at all--I actually got sort of good at them.

Hang in there!

This is true for me too. It got to the point where I was so freaked out about missing mortgage questions, I went HAM on the topic. Now I'm consistently doing great on mortgages but the wheels have retroactively fallen off for Contracts and Sales. So it does get easier! The biggest thing to remember - purchase money mortgages take priority over everything. If the PMM is modified or there is an additional line of credit, then ONLY the modification is treated as a junior interest. The original PMM is still king.

[zot1]

To add to the many things wrong with the progress bar, mine is currently malfunctioning: it says I've completed 1% for the day already even though I'm still working through my first task out of six.

Okay, this is really weird. Done with the lectures, so now Themis thinks I'm done for the day. I think this glitch is gonna mess up my distribution of work for the rest of the time.

[habz]

I love how McElroy insists that every topic "is a great place to rack up points."

EVERY one except property lol. Her stupid tips always make me get questions wrong though.

(best evidence rule is pretty much never the right answer)
(4 questions in a set have best evidence rule as a correct answer)

Yeah why do they always say things are never tested and then give a disproportionately large number of questions on those topics?

[collegewriter]

Asked my advisor about doing assignments open book and what we should be scoring. Her response was comforting so I'm posting part of it here:

"Ideally, all of these practice items, whether graded, should be done with your books closed - that is the only way to get a true sense of your timing and substantive knowledge as well as your ability to guess when you are unsure. That is really good rpactice for the real exam as you may indeed have to do so on July 28th. It's ok to review the substance/your notes before you sit down to write an essay for grading or before you answer a set of MBE PQs - you will have more time to study in July and you will be able to memorize most of the rules then.

It's way too early to be overly concerned about any scores! Every student starts out bar review in a different place. Some are good at Multiple Choice and standardized tests, and some are not naturally good at those questions. On average, I would say that most students begin near 45% for the first few sets of MBE PQs, regardless of the subject matter. For the MBE practice questions, about 50% correct right now is an expected level of competence. The Goal is currently set at 50% through the first 2 Milestone exams - simply because most students begin the process at or below the 50% mark. There is a Goal Ladder which will begin to rise after Milestone 2. Overall, on the MBE Qs for all subjects combined, you are shooting to score about 62% correct (That is 62 out of 100 Qs in the AM; 62 out of 100 Qs in the PM session - YOU CAN do that!).

Most students who do the essay assignments with their books closed should score around 50 points out of the possible 100. You can guage your own scores on all graded assignments by comparing to others within the course progress session results. Your goal is to have about 65-70 points or more overall on the actual bar exam (an average of the 5 essay answers). You will have strengths and weaknesses within the subejcts which are testable, but it's the overall result that matters, and you are well on your way!There is a long way to go until the actual bar exam, so you have plenty of time to improve your writing style and organization as well as your knowledge of the law."